Balancing a Spooky Dungeon [Archive] - Wizards Community

Balancing a Spooky Dungeon [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Draviculus
01-15-05, 04:43 PM Hi all! First, I'm a relatively new DM, but I've played for so long that people wanted a game to go down, and I was the most experienced. So they cast me as DM. I figured, "What the heck."

So I'm putting together my first part in a new campaign, and I was doing a traditional "old ruins of a temple" setup. My problem though is that this place has corridors and rooms and hidden rooms and traps, etc. that are spred through the temple. I'm just wondering how other DMs make sure that they have an equal balance of undead encounters, traps, and just plain rooms to explore so the PCs don't really have to heal up every 15 minutes. I would say I have a pretty balanced setup, but input helps of course.

Kthxbye!
Zycko
01-15-05, 05:21 PM Well, the books says about 4 enounters of appropriate difficulty pr day, so - if the creatures in the dungeon are more then mindless skeletons, let the players find a few spots throughout the dungeon where they can rest relatively safe.

Also, it really depends on your group.. How much action they want.
krichaiushii
01-15-05, 08:53 PM Keep in mind the original builders when placing traps. Few traps will be in areas that were accessed on a regular basis or by large amounts of people.

Traps are best on vault doors, chests, and secret doors/compartments.
Draviculus
01-16-05, 04:05 PM Mmkay. I would think that my dungeon is working out pretty good. I have a lot more encounters than the 4 per day thing, but half of them are encounters that can be avoided in many ways or that have to be triggered by some really dumb action by the PCs. So hopefully this should work out alright.
Vharuck
01-16-05, 06:11 PM Just remember to throw in a few Cure potions as loot and you can extend the dungeon crawl. Maybe even a few scrolls so the casters won't feel unnecessary after they run out of spells.
philosofool
01-16-05, 06:39 PM Here're some guidelines I use:

(0) I was walking home the other day, I'd planned my route to stop by an ATM. There was a big puddle on that route. Rather than following the plan, I went by a different route to avoid getting my shoes all wet and cold. Your dungeon is like the route to the ATM. It's a plan, but if you discover you're going to get your feet wet and cold, change the plan.

(1) Use the EL rules but don't trust them. If the fights are tougher than you'd like, drop the number of monsters in a room by one; if they're too easy, add a monster to the room.

(2) Groups of monster make it easier to adjust your dungeon mid session if things aren't balanced. Solo monsters of the right EL are harder to fix.

(3) Keep a rough record of the PCs health. You will be glad that you knew the characters were all at 12 hp when they spring a trap that was supposed to be a 5d6 attack. Since the players do know how much damage the trap is supposed to do, they won't even know you helped them out by rolling just 2d8.

(4) Look at the party composition. If there's no rogue, you may want to scale back on traps. If there's no warrior type, you'll proabably need to scale back the number of monsters in an encounter. If there's no cleric, undead are going to be tougher and there won't be any healing... You get the idea.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Draviculus 01-15-05, 04:43 PM	Hi all! First, I'm a relatively new DM, but I've played for so long that people wanted a game to go down, and I was the most experienced. So they cast me as DM. I figured, "What the heck." So I'm putting together my first part in a new campaign, and I was doing a traditional "old ruins of a temple" setup. My problem though is that this place has corridors and rooms and hidden rooms and traps, etc. that are spred through the temple. I'm just wondering how other DMs make sure that they have an equal balance of undead encounters, traps, and just plain rooms to explore so the PCs don't really have to heal up every 15 minutes. I would say I have a pretty balanced setup, but input helps of course. Kthxbye!
Zycko 01-15-05, 05:21 PM	Well, the books says about 4 enounters of appropriate difficulty pr day, so - if the creatures in the dungeon are more then mindless skeletons, let the players find a few spots throughout the dungeon where they can rest relatively safe. Also, it really depends on your group.. How much action they want.
krichaiushii 01-15-05, 08:53 PM	Keep in mind the original builders when placing traps. Few traps will be in areas that were accessed on a regular basis or by large amounts of people. Traps are best on vault doors, chests, and secret doors/compartments.
Draviculus 01-16-05, 04:05 PM	Mmkay. I would think that my dungeon is working out pretty good. I have a lot more encounters than the 4 per day thing, but half of them are encounters that can be avoided in many ways or that have to be triggered by some really dumb action by the PCs. So hopefully this should work out alright.
Vharuck 01-16-05, 06:11 PM	Just remember to throw in a few Cure potions as loot and you can extend the dungeon crawl. Maybe even a few scrolls so the casters won't feel unnecessary after they run out of spells.
philosofool 01-16-05, 06:39 PM	Here're some guidelines I use: (0) I was walking home the other day, I'd planned my route to stop by an ATM. There was a big puddle on that route. Rather than following the plan, I went by a different route to avoid getting my shoes all wet and cold. Your dungeon is like the route to the ATM. It's a plan, but if you discover you're going to get your feet wet and cold, change the plan. (1) Use the EL rules but don't trust them. If the fights are tougher than you'd like, drop the number of monsters in a room by one; if they're too easy, add a monster to the room. (2) Groups of monster make it easier to adjust your dungeon mid session if things aren't balanced. Solo monsters of the right EL are harder to fix. (3) Keep a rough record of the PCs health. You will be glad that you knew the characters were all at 12 hp when they spring a trap that was supposed to be a 5d6 attack. Since the players do know how much damage the trap is supposed to do, they won't even know you helped them out by rolling just 2d8. (4) Look at the party composition. If there's no rogue, you may want to scale back on traps. If there's no warrior type, you'll proabably need to scale back the number of monsters in an encounter. If there's no cleric, undead are going to be tougher and there won't be any healing... You get the idea.